Chapter 503

In the recent period, Nanyuan City concentrated on rectifying the business environment, with very obvious results; administrative efficiency across the city rose rapidly, winning widespread praise from the public and enterprises.

But deep-rooted problems linger; after the wind of a strict crackdown blew past some counties and departments, they merely put on a sheep's skin and resumed doing as they pleased.

The mayor's hotline recently received many complaint calls, most of them about the business environment, making Lu Fan realize that outdated ideas, inertial work practices, institutional disconnect and lag, and layered weakening in execution cannot be overturned by a one-time rectification; optimizing the business environment requires sustained effort, with no letup in intensity, vigor, or standards.

In the morning, Lu Fan went to the municipal government service hall, with Cheng Haohao accompanying him; he had to go to the secretary's residence every day to receive the leader.

Approaching the medical insurance window, Lu Fan saw dozens of people waiting. He immediately asked the crowd about the situation; some said it was always like this: four windows but only one handling business, after a while the queue could stretch outside, and only after nine o'clock would another window be opened, something everyone had grown accustomed to.

Lu Fan came to the window and said sternly: "With so many people waiting to handle affairs, why is only one window open? Can't you make immediate adjustments according to the situation? Have you really put yourselves in their shoes and thought from their perspective?"

The staff member said lightly: "Sorry, we're short-staffed; please don't make trouble for no reason and delay my work."

Lu Fan asked: "Did you only arrange one window? Or are the others going to leave early?"

The staff member showed a hint of a smile and replied: "The unit has arrangements; I'm not clear on the specifics. If you're handling business, please queue!" Enthusiastic and courteous, yet clueless when asked three questions; understanding and apologetic, truly sorry.

Lu Fan didn't argue with him, and told Cheng Haohao: "Notify Zhang Xixi to come here immediately, then go check their sign-in register."

Hearing this, the staff member became unsettled, looking at Lu Fan with puzzlement, thinking: Who is this? Daring to order around the "big boss" of the Administrative Approval Bureau? Could it be an undercover inspection by the Discipline Inspection Committee?

She immediately took out her phone to tip off her colleagues.

It's not entirely her fault for being clueless; ordinary cadres don't usually pay much attention to top leaders unless someone mentions their post and name, and she would surely react then—the name "Lu Fan" carries weight in Nanyuan City.

But among the crowd, someone sharp-eyed recognized Lu Fan and muttered to those nearby: "Doesn't he look like Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan?"

"Secretary Lu? He really does look a bit like him; let me search for Secretary Lu's speeches."

"Indeed, he is Secretary Lu!"

Soon after, the government service hall erupted, with many people crowding around, indignant, to voice their grievances to Secretary Lu—such as difficulty parking when handling business, equipment not running smoothly for processing affairs, unscientific window setup, severe network lag, and many other issues.

Lu Fan listened attentively to the public's opinions and said: "The problems you've raised show that the government service hall hasn't truly turned the principle of 'not making excuses for not doing things, but only thinking of ways to get things done' into conscious action, nor has it put itself in the people's shoes. After investigation and verification, the Municipal Party Committee will launch an accountability mechanism and seriously pursue the responsibility of the relevant persons. Here we will also take immediate corrective action, opening more windows and adding staff, to provide convenient, efficient, and high-quality service for everyone."

Someone said: "Secretary Lu, actually things are much better than before—at least they don't give us dirty looks anymore—but the efficiency of handling affairs still needs improvement."

"Yes, Secretary Lu, I run a business. When handling procedures, they don't tell us all at once what materials to prepare, forcing me to make multiple trips back and forth from Jingcheng to supplement and submit the required documents; then they unjustifiably delay sending them for review, and it takes nearly half a year to get approval—truly speechless!"

……

At this moment, the medical insurance window staff were completely dumbfounded—they had actually stood up to the Municipal Party Secretary! She hurriedly called her leaders and colleagues.

As it neared 9 o'clock, the heads of the Municipal Administrative Approval Bureau, Zhang Xixi, and the Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau, Zheng Fengyu, came running into the hall, their faces showing unease and worry.

Upon seeing Secretary Lu in the crowd, the two exchanged a glance, each showing a helpless, wry smile, then immediately quickened their steps toward Lu Fan.

When they reached Lu Fan, they spoke in unison: "Secretary Lu, our work has not been done well; please criticize us!" After saying that, they lowered their heads, faces full of shame, not daring to look at Lu Fan again. At this moment, they were even more worried about their own futures.

Although they were full section-level officials, Lu Fan gave them face, refraining from rebuking them on the spot, and said: "Open the windows immediately to facilitate public business. Cheng Haohao, notify the Discipline Inspection Committee to investigate today's matter thoroughly, and, according to relevant regulations and procedures, seriously deal with the responsible persons!" Having said that, Lu Fan bade farewell to the crowd and turned to leave the government service hall.

Returning to his office, Lu Fan immediately had Cheng Haohao summon the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Fang Yang, the Municipal Political and Legal Committee Secretary Yang Jiajian, and the heads of the supervision rooms of the two offices to his office.

After everyone had gathered, Lu Fan first said to Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Fang Yang: "Just now I went to the government service hall; the medical insurance service window had only one open. For this matter, the Discipline Inspection Committee must investigate and deal with it strictly. I will first state a principle: anyone involved must also have their economic issues investigated simultaneously; from now on, this will always be the case!"

Fang Yang replied: "Okay, Secretary, I've already arranged for people to go to the government service hall; I'll report back once I have the results."

Lu Fan continued: "I summoned you for one matter: concentrate your strength, adopt a no-notice, light-and-simple undercover inspection approach, go deep into all counties and departments to inspect the construction of the business environment, and produce a video with a strong kick. Then, under the leadership of the Political and Legal Committee, convene a citywide conference on optimizing the business environment, publicly play the undercover short film, and at the meeting deal with a batch of people, tentatively set at 100; otherwise the warning effect would be insufficient. If the undercover teams lack manpower, we can hire enterprises and the public as business environment supervisors and media observers."

The assembled personnel received the orders and immediately began arranging and deploying this work.

Lu Fan also did not idle; taking Cheng Haohao with him, he conducted random undercover visits to the litigation service hall of Wolong District Court, the office hall of Wancheng District Traffic Police Brigade, the 12309 judicial service center of Nan County Procuratorate, and similar places, personally experiencing the law-based construction of the business environment in government agencies, and on-site seeking out shortcomings revealed by the undercover inspections.

After returning to his unit, Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Fang Yang drafted 100 people from the county and district discipline inspection committees and dispatched organs, added the 20 from the municipal discipline inspection committee, forming 40 undercover teams, and assigned each team three case-handling "targets", simultaneously investigating economic matters, in principle requiring double opening.

Political and Legal Committee Secretary Yang Jiajian likewise attached great importance to this work, immediately drafting over a hundred personnel from public security, procuratorate, judiciary, and judicial administration, forming 40 undercover teams, equipped with hidden cameras, and launching undercover inspections based on tip-offs.

Leadership's emphasis is the prerequisite and guarantee for doing any work well; with the undercover teams operating under a "death order," they naturally must strike hard.

Soon, the undercover work bore fruit, and some "unlucky eggs" found themselves in the eye of the storm.

The Wolong District Civil Air Defense Office was taken down in one sweep by the Discipline Inspection Committee; its director Zhang Xing, deputy directors Xu You and Wu Sheng, among others, seriously damaged the business environment. Investigation revealed that, within five years, the three illegally accepted and demanded money and goods from multiple people totaling over 12 million yuan and 100,000 US dollars, improperly helped Liang Mou monopolize the Wolong District civil air defense supervision market, destroying fair market competition order; they also failed to perform their clearly mandated law-enforcement inspection duties, causing multiple real-estate development projects' civil air defense works to be built without approval or built but not approved, creating adverse social impact and seriously damaging the city's business environment, leading the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee to open a case.

The director of Wancheng District Land Resources Trading Center, Liu Mei, abused her authority, acting as a "middleman," maliciously intervening in construction projects to seek private gain, and using her convenience in handling land transaction information deliberately leaked such information to aid or collude with others in malicious land bidding, even fabricating fake competitors to defraud and extort bidders; the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee has opened a case.

The deputy director of Zhenping County Public Security Bureau, Wang Jian, used his position to partner with others in acquiring a "dry share" stake in a local blasting company, and during the execution of the explosive materials warehouse distribution system, he set restrictive conditions to help the invested company increase its operating profits and gain benefits therefrom; this conduct violated the principle of fair market competition, and the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee has opened a case.

During his tenure as an assistant in the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, Li Jun used his position to collect convenience fees from stall owners dozens of times, totaling 150,000 yuan, and under the pretense of "loans" and arranging fixed stalls in the market, he demanded another 80,000 yuan from them. Although the amount is small, the nature is extremely heinous, and the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee has opened a case.

……

At the same time, the municipal government increased publicity for the "Mayor's Hotline" and the "12345 Government Service Convenience Hotline," accepting reports of clues damaging the business environment such as buck-passing and shirking in enterprise-related services, extortion, bribery, arbitrary law enforcement, failure to implement enterprise-related policies, interference with normal enterprise operations, and the "false, evasive, cold, coarse, fake" behaviors.

The undercover teams operated with considerable strength, basically taking people into custody every day in law enforcement departments and window units. In just a short week, a total of 185 people across all municipal levels were investigated by the Municipal Discipline Inspection Committee, making the city's cadres feel the tension of "the storm is coming, the wind fills the tower; dark clouds press upon the city, the city seems about to collapse."

Unlike before, those taken away in this special operation will not simply be held aloft and let off with a light punishment; following Secretary Lu's instruction, their economic issues must be investigated simultaneously.

Once everyone realized that the Municipal Party Committee had come down hard on the business environment, many violations and disciplinary offenses vanished, allowing the city's business environment to undergo a fundamental transformation.

Just as Nanyuan City was vigorously carrying out a major rectification of the business environment, Lu Fan received a phone call from Governor Liu Linghao.

Governor Liu Linghao said: "Lu Fan, it's best not to linger indecisively as the mayor of Nanyuan City, or else you'll invite trouble, and many people are eyeing that position."

Lu Fan thought for a moment and replied: "Thank you for your concern and support, Governor; I'll go to the provincial Party Committee this afternoon to promptly put Nanyuan's leadership team in place."

"Alright, wait until you finish your report, then I'll meet with Secretary Tang Bing."